Chair



y 16, 1939- 2 A. ELMORE 2,158,225

CHAIR Filed March 21, 1938 INVENTOR.

Z3 Y V I 15 j Z ZinZiZZmQreQ ATTORNEY.

Patented May 16, 1939 Austin E. Elmore, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor toPhilip M. Virtue and Julian A. Virtue, both of ,LosJAngeles, Calif,doing business as copart- I ners under firm name and style of VirtueBros,

" Application March 21. 1938, Serial No. mass This invention relates toimprovements in chairs for general use. Among the objects are to providein a chair,- a skeleton framemade out of spring or rigid metal uponwhich are stretched a,

series of parallel and comparatively heavy elastic bands extendingtransversely and forming a resilient seat and back with no interferingmembers and without theuse of any cushions; to permit the readyadjustment of the elastic bands whereby replacement of worn or mutilatedbands can be easily made; to include arm rests coacting with the seat;and back which permit ready 're-;

placement of the elastic-bands forming the seat and back; toprovideacurved seat and backv 1 which will readily fit and conform withthe shape of the body of the'user and which will readily regain normalcondition when not in use, and to provide a seat or back or-both madeout of elastic bands which will not strain and become deformed afterlong-continued use and which are sanitary, comfortable and cool. e

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, Fig. l,is a perspectiveview of a my improvedchairyFig. 2 is a cross section ofa detail taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1', showing a fragment of the seatand arm rest; Fig. 3 is a cross section taken approximately on the line3-3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is across section in per-,

spective of one of the elastic bands.

While I haveillustrated my invention applied to a chair it will beunderstood that the novel features thereof are. equally applicable to astool, bed

frame or any other article 'of furniture for household, porch, lawn,vehicle or any other use.

' In the drawing, A represents the skeleton frame of a chair made out ofspring or rigid metal tubing or structual metal of any suitable crosssectional shape. This frame as shown consists of a single piece oftubing bent semi-circularly mid- 0 way between its ends into a stabilitybase B. The

forwardly extending parallel side members l0 and II of the base are bentupwardly to provide parallel upright supporting legs l2 and i3, which inturn are bent backwardly at the desired height to form parallel seatforming side bars I4 and I5,

which slant slightly downwardly toward the rear..

At the desired rearward end of the seat the ends of the tubing are bentupwardly in substantially parallel relation to produce back forming side60 bars i6 and II, which terminate at the desired height and are heldspaced apart by the rearwardly curved transverse stay I8 at their upperends. The ends of this stay are joined to the upper ends of the backforming side bars by brazing or other suitable means, This structure isresilient to provide a spring skeleton chair frame or it can be madesubstantially rigid when desired. The frame is reinforced by thetransverse concave seat brace 20, the concavity thereof relieving saidbrace from interfering with the functioning of the seat. Suitable armrests are provided at the sides above the seat by members 2| and 22,eachmember such as 22 being rigidly secured by brazing or other suitablemeans to the companion back side bar l1 and after extending forwardlybeing bent downwardly a suiiicient distance above the companion side barii of the seat (see Fig. 2) for purposes hereinafter described.

To form what I have chosen to term a flller" for the seat 0 and back Dof the chair, a series of endless resilient bands E, preferably made outof rubber or other resilient material are provided.

As shown wide strips of rubber of sufllcient bodily thickness are used.These bands are sprung around and thereafter grip the side bars afterbeing threaded upwardly over the base 3 and seat C or downwardly overthe back D. They are assembled transversely in parallel slightly spacedrelation apart and normally grip the side bars. The elastic band is ofproper length and thickness to be held taut on the side members of thechair, whereby all of the bands cooperate in permanently forming auniform filler of the seat and back. The arm rests 22 and 23 terminateabove and out of contact with members It and I5 so that the elasticbands can be readily adjusted below the arm rests and over the sidemembers of the seat. A smooth tip 23 is placed in the lower end of eacharm-rest to prevent abrasion of the elastic bands. The surface of oneside of substantially all of the bands of the back and seat lies insubstantially a plane to produce a supporting surface between the sidesof the seat and back. When subjected to suiilcient weight of a body thefront'side of each band stretches and sags inwardly until the back sidesupplements its supporting strength. In this manner both sides function,the front side I. imparting firsta soft cushioning effect and whensupplemented by the back side increasing the- -support to preventsagging.

Worn or damaged resilient bands can be easily replaced 'by removing oldand adjusting new bands over the frame. In use the metal skeleton theuse of cushions. They are sanitary, cool and attractive in appearanceand are easily replaced when worn or damaged. The entire structure isalso sturdy, durable and inexpensive and there is no tendency of thebands straining and sagging excessively after long continued use. Theresilient bands of the seat and back also conform readily to thecurvature of the body of the user and provide maximum resiliency. v

In accordance with the patent statutes, 1 have described the principlesof operation ofmy in-t vention together with the construction thereofwhich I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but Idesire to have it understood that the structure illustrated is onlyillus trative and that the invention can be carried out by other meansand applied to uses other than those above set forth within the scope ofthe following claims.

I claim:

1. A chair, comprising, a skeleton frame having side bars forming a seatand back, means for holding said side bars in spaced relation, and a.filler for said seat and back composed of a series of transverse endlesselastic bands adapted to grip the side bars, said bands having broadsides in a plane forming a resilient supporting surface, and arm restsrigidly secured to the portion of said side bars forming said back andhaving their free ends terminating away from the portions'of the sidebars forming said seat to permit adjusting the bands over the side bars.I

2. A chair, comprising, a skeleton frame having side bars forming a seatand back, means for holding said side bars in spaced relation, a fillerfor said seat and back composed of a series of transverse endlesselastic bands adapted to grip the side bars, said bands having broadsides in a plane forming a resilient supporting surface,

and an arm rest rigidly secured at one end to a portion of a side barforming part of said back and having a free end terminating away fromthe remaining portion of said side bar forming part of said seat, topermit adjusting the bands over the side bars.

3. A chair, comprising, a skeleton frame having side bars forming a seatand back, means for holding said side bars in spaced relation, a fillerfor said seat and back composed of a series of transverse endlesselastic bands adapted to grip the side bars and form a resilientsupporting surface, and an arm rest rigidly secured at one end to andhaving a free end spaced from one of said side bars, to permit adjustingthe bands over the side bars.

4. An article of furniture having longitudinal side bars held spacedapart and forming part of a seat and back, a filler between said barscomprising a plurality of adjacently arranged transverse endless elasticbands adapted for being sprung-over,the portions of said side barsforming the seat and back and thereafter to grip said bars, each bandbeing relatively wide as related to its thickness and one side of all ofthe bands' providing a substantially flat elastic supporting surfacebetween said bars and the front side being superimposed and spaced fromthe companion back side of 'each band whereby-the front side may stretchand sag into contact with the back side and the supporting strength ofthe front side be resiliently reinforced, and arm rests between the seatand back portions of each side bar, each rest being secured by one endto one of the seat or back portions of a bar with its free end spacedfrom the companion portion of said bar to'permit adjusting said handsover the bars.

AUSTIN E. ELMORE.

